Comfort Hour was recorded one evening during rehearsals for Lurid and Insane. The show was
to be accompanied by a Radio Station - People's Radio Freedom - and the station needed content. Hamfisted! had been
commissioned to run the station, it seemed tough to give them no content at all but in the end the demands of creating
Lurid and Insane meant that Comfort Hour was the only content we gave them and they were fine.

Days before, on 11th September 2001, rehearsals had been abandoned whilst we watched horrifying events unfold. Now, late in
the evening, we set up instruments in our first floor rehearsal space on Birmingham's New Canal Street with our lights out, looking out
over the railway line and the City Centre with its lights on. We knew we were to record an hour of material in a single take. Brian
used the limited equipment we had available to improvise a live recording set up. James rapidly wrote a page of text for Heather to deploy as
she saw fit.

The text aims to create an ambiguous audio world that can be read as either reasuring of disturbing. The voice
could be the soothing mantra of a self-help guru talking an insomniac into sleep, or it could
be the mouthpiece of an Orwellian opiate state asking you to accept the Status Quo and the benevolence
of those in-charge.

The result was rough and ready but atmospheric (you can intermittently hear trains rumbling past in the background), it got played in full every night as People's Radio Freedom closed down. later sections were played on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction.
We tried recording a similar improvisation in a recording studio with better equipment intending to release this as a CD but this second recording was nowhere near as good, so we chose to release the original.

Pieces for the Radio: Volume 2 Comfort Hour.
A lullaby for adults living in troubled times.
Playing time 1 hour.

Pt 1: This Is Comfort Hour
Pt 2: No Matter What Anyone Says
Pt 3: You Have Nothing To Fear
Pt 4: The Sun Will Always Set
Pt 5: Now You Are Older
Pt 6: You Are Loved
Pt 7: This Is Comfort hour
Pt 8: Close Your Eyes